Cheryl Roberts wants all ballots counted to determine winner in 107th Assembly District

For one candidate in the race for the 107th State Assembly district, it isn't over yet, while for the other, it's time to get back to work.

Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin claimed victory Tuesday evening, after the final vote showed that he bested his Democratic opponent, City of Hudson Corporation Counsel, Cheryl Roberts, 28,256 to 25,974 votes. However, Roberts isn't ready to throw in the towel just yet.

"I am proud of my staff and the many volunteers who worked tirelessly on my campaign," Roberts said in a statement. "We ran a great race, and though it appears that Mr. McLaughlin has won, many paper ballots were collected at polling sites due to the large number of polling location changes caused by redistricting. I think every person's vote matters and should be counted."

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When asked whether she felt there was a chance of winning the election, Roberts said she will defer to the results once all of the votes are counted.

"We won't know if we have a chance unless we have a better handle on the total number of paper ballots," she said.

McLaughlin campaign spokesman Nick Wilock said they were returning to business as usual and still claiming victory in the race. He added that there is a lot of work to be done to make sure the progress McLaughlin started during his first term continues during his second term. While Wilock acknowledged the importance of wanting to see the democratic process through to the end, he doesn't see the result changing.

"Certainly, we understand one of the greatest rights we have in the democratic process is casting a ballot," Wilock said. "We certainly want to see every vote counted but we are confident we are going to uphold the lead, if not expand, and we are excited to get back to Albany to continue to represent the residents of the district."

The newly drawn 107th State Assembly District is comprised of the majority of Rensselaer County, approximately half of Columbia County, and the towns of Cambridge and White Creek in Washington County. Between the three counties, a total of 1,655 Democratic, 1,484 Republican, 138 Conservative and 272 Independent absentee ballots were received along with 1364 absentee ballots which did not list a party affiliation.

McLaughlin also ran on the Independence and Conservative Party lines while Roberts also ran on the Working Families Party line.

The counting of absentee ballots is scheduled to begin next week. Roberts noted that it may take "another few weeks" for both absentee and paper ballots to be counted.